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sleepysharon's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was honestly precious and just what my brain needed going into the month of May.
Thank you to the author & to NetGalley for allowing me to have an e-ARC to read.
Thank you to the author & to NetGalley for allowing me to have an e-ARC to read.
mandareads222's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Outing, Lesbophobia, and Biphobia
Moderate: Alcohol and Pregnancy
Minor: Infidelity
readwithkait's review against another edition
4.0
This was a super cute, lighthearted romance! The premise of dating through all the astrology signs was so fun. I don’t know a ton about astrology, but I feel like I learned a lot.
The Nola setting was also perfect for this book, and the author did a great job taking us through different parts of the city, mentioning landmarks, and making the city come to life on the page.
I would have liked a longer conclusion or an epilogue, but overall really enjoyed reading this.
I was provided a complimentary ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
tccumbe's review
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
bookasaurusrecs's review against another edition
3.0
Pub date: June 11, 2024
Read if you like:
-rom-coms
-found family
-dislikers to friends to lovers
-New Orleans
-astrology & zodiac signs
-dating apps & challenges
-flirty banter
Rep:
-lesbian
-pansexual
-nonbinary
-trans
-bisexual
-two moms for parents
After liking Queerly Beloved by Susie Dumond, I knew I had to request this ARC. And the blurb really drew me in- single queer woman, New Orleans, astrology, and going on dates with each zodiac sign to find her most compatible match after a break up? SIGN. ME. UP. You can tell that Susie did her research on astrology. And I can’t go without saying that my hometown, New Orleans, was the perfect setting for this story. And I loved how all of the dates involved something special about the city like music, beignets, Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras, king cakes, the French Quarter, the food, ghost tours, etc. 10/10 for the New Orleans vibes 👏🏻
Overall, this was just okay for me. I really wanted to love it more. It wasn’t bad and I finished it in one sitting. It was a very unique concept and was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I loved the last chapter when all of the zodiac sign dates came together, but I really wish there was more to the ending. So, I definitely say to give it a try if you like any of the things listed above.
Thank you to Susie Dumond, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a honest voluntary review!
#LookingForASign #NetGalley
Read if you like:
-rom-coms
-found family
-dislikers to friends to lovers
-New Orleans
-astrology & zodiac signs
-dating apps & challenges
-flirty banter
Rep:
-lesbian
-pansexual
-nonbinary
-trans
-bisexual
-two moms for parents
After liking Queerly Beloved by Susie Dumond, I knew I had to request this ARC. And the blurb really drew me in- single queer woman, New Orleans, astrology, and going on dates with each zodiac sign to find her most compatible match after a break up? SIGN. ME. UP. You can tell that Susie did her research on astrology. And I can’t go without saying that my hometown, New Orleans, was the perfect setting for this story. And I loved how all of the dates involved something special about the city like music, beignets, Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras, king cakes, the French Quarter, the food, ghost tours, etc. 10/10 for the New Orleans vibes 👏🏻
Overall, this was just okay for me. I really wanted to love it more. It wasn’t bad and I finished it in one sitting. It was a very unique concept and was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I loved the last chapter when all of the zodiac sign dates came together, but I really wish there was more to the ending. So, I definitely say to give it a try if you like any of the things listed above.
Thank you to Susie Dumond, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a honest voluntary review!
#LookingForASign #NetGalley
cewritespoems's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This is an honest review in exchange for an ARC.
The premise of Looking for a Sign is fun and would have made for a great a romcom—a race to date each zodiac sign before the impending Saturn Return—except the main character was so unlikeable, I ended up struggling to finish and found myself increasingly frustrated with her snail's pace character development.
Of course, I was expecting the majority of characters to be caricatures of the zodiac signs. There's no way the book could fit that many side narratives. But unfortunately, Gray, our Aries MC didn't expand much beyond her immature, hardheaded impulsivity. For the whole book, she's driven by a desire for a big, happy family, white picket fence and all. She thinks that if she can just find her soulmate—or get on the path to finding her soulmate before her 29th birthday, she'll be back on track to having multiple children by her early 30s with the perfect wife. Even by the time she realized she was being selfishasking her best friend to delay trying for a second baby so that they could be pregnant together, quitting after one date with her boss and saying they're destined to start a family. Also, she is pretty insecure and doesn't want to date people who are hotter or more successful than her. Basically, this woman is as delulu as a twenty-one-year-old BYU-Idaho student who's stressing that she isn't engaged before graduation. By the end, she says she's signed up for her first therapy appointment, but someone everyone ends up apologizing to her and telling her she just needs to try to woo her boss one more time, because she's obviously in love with her.
Meanwhile, I did love her love interest—but she was simply too good for our main character. There is a point when I was cheering for her FINALLY calling out our MC's behavior, but within 48 hours it flips, they're back together again, and then the book is over.
The pros of this book? The side characters who WERE developed were fun and interesting. The bad dates in this dating challenge were cringe-worthy hilarious. And I could gossip about the main character like she was a train-wreck of a person in my life. When a couple friends asked me what were some redeeming qualities of our MC, I thought real hard and eventually all I had to say was: she is really good at her PR job.
Ultimately, if you like watching someone make hilariously bad decisions, this is a book for you. If you feel really weird about seeing a queer person freaking out about their ticking biological clock at the young age of 29... pass.
The premise of Looking for a Sign is fun and would have made for a great a romcom—a race to date each zodiac sign before the impending Saturn Return—except the main character was so unlikeable, I ended up struggling to finish and found myself increasingly frustrated with her snail's pace character development.
Of course, I was expecting the majority of characters to be caricatures of the zodiac signs. There's no way the book could fit that many side narratives. But unfortunately, Gray, our Aries MC didn't expand much beyond her immature, hardheaded impulsivity. For the whole book, she's driven by a desire for a big, happy family, white picket fence and all. She thinks that if she can just find her soulmate—or get on the path to finding her soulmate before her 29th birthday, she'll be back on track to having multiple children by her early 30s with the perfect wife. Even by the time she realized she was being selfish
Meanwhile, I did love her love interest—but she was simply too good for our main character. There is a point when I was cheering for her FINALLY calling out our MC's behavior, but within 48 hours it flips, they're back together again, and then the book is over.
The pros of this book? The side characters who WERE developed were fun and interesting. The bad dates in this dating challenge were cringe-worthy hilarious. And I could gossip about the main character like she was a train-wreck of a person in my life. When a couple friends asked me what were some redeeming qualities of our MC, I thought real hard and eventually all I had to say was: she is really good at her PR job.
Ultimately, if you like watching someone make hilariously bad decisions, this is a book for you. If you feel really weird about seeing a queer person freaking out about their ticking biological clock at the young age of 29... pass.
bekkah_co's review
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House, Dial Press Trade Paperback, and Susie Dumond for the digital ARC! This book releases June 11, 2024.
Synopsis: Gray, after breaking up with her long-term girlfriend, moves to New Orleans for a new start. At the recommendation of a famous astrologer and her best friend (Cherry), Gray begins the quest of serial dating people from every star sign with the goal of accomplishing this before her next birthday. This story follows Gray as she navigates love, a new job and city, and tries to find her destiny.
Brief Review Summary:
- Overall Rating: 2.5 /5
- Spice Rating: 2/5
- Sapphic Rating: 3/5
Review: Despite the absolutely fascinating premise of this book, I found myself really struggling to complete this book. I am normally someone who can finish two books in a day, but this one just killed my reading streak. The style of the book seems to be suffering solely due to the amount of characters in it. While it is very clear that Gray will be moving through a large cast of "love interests", it was hard to really engage with any of them. I understand the choice to have the dates all fall into the known archetypes (and stereotypes) of their star signs, but it began to feel taxing and like the love interests were shells of their astrology. Even the main love interest, who had a considerable amount of space in the book devoted to her felt tertiary to the narrative. It cannot be easy to try and navigate so many characters in only 300ish pages. I think if this book was given more time to breathe, particularly in the back half, the development of Gray and the love interest's relationship would have been more satisfying.
I am not the biggest "astroslut" out there. I'm one of those lesbians who check the horoscope when the vibes are off and that's about it. However, I did dedicate a lot of middle and high school to learning to be an astroslut. This is purely why this book intrigued me. You have a main character who doesn't really believe in this stuff, but at the encouragement of her best friend and the famous astrologer push her into these relationships. Ultimately, there is a lesson to be learned with this in the book, but I felt like it just made everything very superficial. As previously stated, I think shoving the love interests into their astrological shoe box does harm the book overall.
I know you folks like a bit of spice in your books. This is probably about a 2 out of 5 in this category. The scenes felt rushed and were lacking a bit of pizazz. They eventually began to feel repetitious.
Where I really struggled with this book was the tone. This is probably the most common complaint of mine if you look at my other reviews: I hate the overuse of millenial / zillenial humor in sapphic romances. I get it. I really do. We are a funny group of people, but the jokes and "witty" comments the characters make don't translate well on the page. I'm sure that, if given an audiobook adaptation, it'll translate much better there. I wish the writing was a bit more diverse. I found myself struggling to understand the motivations of Gray and particularly Cherry's desire to get Gray a date. She just got out of a long term relationship, let the girl breathe. Now, in defence, of Cherry a lot of actions that Gray took were incredibly selfish, but I'll let y'all discover those on your own!
Overall, this book just really fell flat and there were some lines in the book that really made me consider DNFing. I think, when it comes to handling diverse identities, there needs to be some sensitivity to the unity behind labels.
Synopsis: Gray, after breaking up with her long-term girlfriend, moves to New Orleans for a new start. At the recommendation of a famous astrologer and her best friend (Cherry), Gray begins the quest of serial dating people from every star sign with the goal of accomplishing this before her next birthday. This story follows Gray as she navigates love, a new job and city, and tries to find her destiny.
Brief Review Summary:
- Overall Rating: 2.5 /5
- Spice Rating: 2/5
- Sapphic Rating: 3/5
Review: Despite the absolutely fascinating premise of this book, I found myself really struggling to complete this book. I am normally someone who can finish two books in a day, but this one just killed my reading streak. The style of the book seems to be suffering solely due to the amount of characters in it. While it is very clear that Gray will be moving through a large cast of "love interests", it was hard to really engage with any of them. I understand the choice to have the dates all fall into the known archetypes (and stereotypes) of their star signs, but it began to feel taxing and like the love interests were shells of their astrology. Even the main love interest, who had a considerable amount of space in the book devoted to her felt tertiary to the narrative. It cannot be easy to try and navigate so many characters in only 300ish pages. I think if this book was given more time to breathe, particularly in the back half, the development of Gray and the love interest's relationship would have been more satisfying.
I am not the biggest "astroslut" out there. I'm one of those lesbians who check the horoscope when the vibes are off and that's about it. However, I did dedicate a lot of middle and high school to learning to be an astroslut. This is purely why this book intrigued me. You have a main character who doesn't really believe in this stuff, but at the encouragement of her best friend and the famous astrologer push her into these relationships. Ultimately, there is a lesson to be learned with this in the book, but I felt like it just made everything very superficial. As previously stated, I think shoving the love interests into their astrological shoe box does harm the book overall.
I know you folks like a bit of spice in your books. This is probably about a 2 out of 5 in this category. The scenes felt rushed and were lacking a bit of pizazz. They eventually began to feel repetitious.
Where I really struggled with this book was the tone. This is probably the most common complaint of mine if you look at my other reviews: I hate the overuse of millenial / zillenial humor in sapphic romances. I get it. I really do. We are a funny group of people, but the jokes and "witty" comments the characters make don't translate well on the page. I'm sure that, if given an audiobook adaptation, it'll translate much better there. I wish the writing was a bit more diverse. I found myself struggling to understand the motivations of Gray and particularly Cherry's desire to get Gray a date. She just got out of a long term relationship, let the girl breathe. Now, in defence, of Cherry a lot of actions that Gray took were incredibly selfish, but I'll let y'all discover those on your own!
Overall, this book just really fell flat and there were some lines in the book that really made me consider DNFing. I think, when it comes to handling diverse identities, there needs to be some sensitivity to the unity behind labels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Sexual content
Moderate: Religious bigotry
caitlinromanelli's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Religious bigotry